In addition to the main tournament the 2016 U.S. Chess Championship also hosted an Ultimate Blitz Challenge, a special exhibition blitz tournament. Former world champion Garry Kasparov played against the top three finishers of the 2016 U.S. Chess Championship. The top three finishers turned out to be the top three seeds, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Hikaru Nakamura. All three were ranked among the top 10 in the world at the time,[2] so this tournament represents the first time Kasparov played against top chess players since his retirement in 2005. The total prize fund for the tournament was 50,000 USD, with individual prize breakdowns of $20,000, $15,000, $10,000, and $5,000 depending on final score.